1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to interactions between a battery pack and a battery powered device, and more particularly, to communication between a battery pack and a battery powered device.
2. Description of Related Art
Many types of battery powered devices, such as cellular telephones, include removable battery packs enabling the recharging of one battery pack while another is plugged into the battery powered device to provide power thereto. The majority of the battery packs and battery powered devices are interconnected via a two-pin interface consisting of a positive terminal and a ground terminal. This allows current to flow between the battery pack and battery powered device and provide power to the battery powered device from cells within the battery pack.
Presently, if it is desired to incorporate extra features within a battery pack, the addition of extra contacts within the interface between the battery pack and the battery powered device are necessary. However, in some cases the necessary costs, additional space, or other limitations may prevent the addition of contacts to a battery pack or battery powered device even though the extra features are desired. Thus, some manner enabling the incorporation of additional features within an existing two-pin configuration would enable expansion of the functionalities that could be incorporated within battery packs and battery powered devices having the two-pin interface.